Sustainably Healthy Environments: Water, Cities, Climate

In the first decade of the 21st century, individuals, communities and governments are increasingly aware that our world is at a transition point. As a result of world population growth and the increased demand for land, energy, and materials to produce the goods and services to sustain this population, there are intensified pressures on the environment and living resources. The strain is likely to increase exponentially as the resource-intensive, consumptive lifestyles of developed nations continue and acquisitive tastes expand in the developing nations as well.

We have known for perhaps hundreds of years that interactions between people, their natural and built environments, and chemicals can have a profound effect on human health. It is only in recent years that we have begun to discuss and debate how global environmental changes, whether natural or anthropogenic, impact human health. The annual IOM meeting will explore several key aspects of sustainably, healthy environments.